When from the narrow cage Where it has housed, The soul creeps faint and light, I think it will not be too soon aroused To measure its new height, Nor leave its prison in a shining rage. For as the furrowed kernel lying cramped In the nut's hard shell, Bears the deep imprint of the outer case, So shall the soul be stamped With the harsh flesh, where in a scanty space, By heaviness possessed, It learned to dwell. Scored by the mortal grain, The soul shall, even as the body rest, Its duplicate, awake, remembering pain. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...FELICIA HEMANS by LETITIA ELIZABETH LANDON AT THE SEASIDE by ROBERT LOUIS STEVENSON SHADOWS by WILLIAM HERVEY ALLEN JR. IN THE VANGUARD by ALEXANDER ANDERSON SONNETS OF MANHOOD: 26. BEYOND by GEORGE BARLOW (1847-1913) |